McKellen Talks Returning To "X-Men"

As we already know, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will return as Magneto and Professor X in the upcoming "X-Men: Days of Future Past". Now, out doing press for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," McKellen talked about reprising the role:

"What a gas! I mean, Patrick Stewart and I have just been playing "Waiting for Godot" throughout England and in the West End of London. So, we've stayed in touch. We can't believe it [laughs]. I thought these were Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy's parts, but -- no, no -- we're back. We'll give them a run for their money."

He adds that he hasn't read the script and doesn't know yet how much he has to do in this outing. However, "to be back in that world, and for Bryan Singer to be doing it -- with all the success he's had in the meantime -- it's wonderful. Wonderful."

McKellen also gave his opinion on Michael Fassbender's work in the role in "X-Men: First Class":

"I thought he was exactly that: first class. Excellent. [Laughs] I thought he was better than me. But, we weren't quite playing the same character because he was so much younger than me. And the scope of Magneto, one day a Jewish actor will play it. Clearly, he's Jewish. We first meet him in at Auschwitz and there's scope for all sorts of people to pay Magneto. But, I was just the lucky guy who got to play him first."